DISCLAIMER:
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by the reader on this information as each individual situation
may be unique and different. The readers are advised to seek
legal counsel from a qualified immigration attorney. The information
stated here is subject to change.

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USCIS announces that USCIS is working on
a combination of (1) rulemaking, (2) policy
memoranda, and (3) operational changes to implement the Buy American and Hire American Executive
Order. USCIS is creating and carrying out these initiatives to
protect the economic interests of U.S. workers and prevent fraud
and abuse within the immigration system.

When it comes to the rule-making, there has
been some delays in initiating the rule-making process. As for
the policy memoranda, it has released a few new memoranda including
removal of deference of previous decision and contract and itinerary
requirement for outplaced H-1B employees. The really troublesome
means which the USCIS wants to use to restrict H-1B sounds the
last one "Operational Changes." Probably this predicts
its potential expansion of RFEs and denials, especially in the
upcoming FY-2019 H-1B cap adjudications. Beware!!

Once USCIS processes your registration, you will receive a confirmation
email with additional details. If you have questions about the
registration process, or if you have not received a confirmation
email within two business days, please email us at USCIS-IGAOutreach@uscis.dhs.gov.

As part of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification's
(OFLC) on-going efforts to increase public engagement, OFLC's
NPWC will host a webinar on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 designed to
educate surveyor's, stakeholders, program users, and other interested
members of the public on H-2B surveyor concepts and general filing
tips. The first hour will focus on information to surveyors and
the second hour will have more general information for PWD requestors
and employers.

The report indicates that USCIS regularly
posts information on its website about the time it takes field
offices to adjudicate I-485 green card applications (processing
time). Yet, the information is unclear and not helpful to USCIS
customers because it does not reflect the actual amount of time
it takes field offices, on average, to complete green card applications.
Website reports I-485 applications adjudication times to four
(4) months, but OIG analysis revealed that the average time it
takes USCIS field offices to complete applications has risen
over time. As shown in figure 2, from FY 2011 through FY 2016,
actual completion times for green card applications requiring
an interview rose by 43 days. As of May 2017, the FY 2017
average actual completion time was 282 days or just over 9 months
 more than double the goal set by USCIS.

It appears that the situation has deteriorated
ever since the USCIS determined that all the EB-485 applications
for employment-based foreign worker green cards should be determined
after the scheduling interviews at the local field offices. Unconfirmed
information indicates that for some field offices, such EB-485
interview and adjudications are tremendously delayed because
of the limited resources at the local field offices. Employment-based
485 applicants lately suffers from two delays: One is incredible
backlog of the EB immigrant visa numbers. The other is the USCIS
delays in adjudication after it required an interview mandatory
for the offices to determination EB-485 applications. One wonders
what options the USCIS would have when they have limited resources.

Effective tomorrow, USCIS will suspend the
applicability of certain requirements governing on-campus and
off-campus employment for F-1 nonimmigrant students whose country
of citizenship is Syria, who are lawfully present in the United
States in F-1 nonimmigrant student status, obtained F-1 nonimmigrant
status by September 9, 2016, and who are experiencing severe
economic hardship as a direct result of the civil unrest in Syria
since March 2011. This notice will be officially published in
the federal register tomorrow and the suspension of the employment
limitations will be extended for 18 months from March 31, 2018
until September 30, 2019.

Dancing EB-3 Indian foreign workers. The
final action date chart will move ahead for one year from 01/01/2007
in March to 01/01/2008!! However, filing date chart will move
ahead only for three months. What does this mean? Those who have
filed EB-485 and are waiting for approval will see only three
months moved ahead from 01/01/2008 to 04/01/2008. Good news is
for those who have yet to file EB-485. Since Final Action Date
chart moved one year ahead, there will be a huge number of Indian
EB-3 EB-485 filings in April 2018 because for the EB-485 charts,
Indians had to follow the Final Action Date charts. CONGRATS
TO YOU ALL!!!

Teleconference on Tuesday, March 27, from
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss the expanded options for
paying USCIS fees by credit card. Subject matter experts from
USCIS' Office of Intake and Document Production as well as the
U.S. Department of the Treasury will provide information regarding
this expansion, give helpful tips, and answer a few non-case
specific questions.

Top 10 employers consumed most of the numbers,
but this list is an eye-opener for the huge number of employers
that have used L-1A and L-1B visas as well.

03/08/2018: DACA March 5, 2018 Rescission Order and DHS
Announcement of Continuous Renewal Application Receipt Per the
Court Order

As we reported earlier, when it comes to
renewal of DACA, March 5 rescission order of the President Trump
turned meaningless when it comes to renewal of current DACA holders
because of the court orders. This is confirmed by the DHS in
its press release of March 7, 2018.

03/08/2018: USCIS New Poverty Guidelines of March 1, 2018
Version Released

03/05/2018: Supposed Death Valley
for DACA "MARCH 5" To Come and Gone, in Part Abandoned by the Leaders
in the Hill

Currently, Dreamers are temporarily
saved from the death valley of March 5, 2018 for now, thanks
to the actions by the nation's Federal Judiciary Branch, but
the survival is hanging at the clip of the roof with uncertain
futures. Both Democrats and Republicans, as well as the White
House, have disappeared from any action for now to avoid any
potential political blame on their shoulder for using DACA as
a hostage to stall the nation's other important governance. It
is not certain whether another drama of government shut-down
will be displayed as they approach March 23, 2018 when the federal
government money runs out again unless the leaders pass appropriations
before the date. Unfortunately, there is a sign that federal
courts may not take any quick actions either pro or con decision,
and the politics may shy away legislators and the White House
from using DACA as the key tool of hostage for extension of another
stop-gap appropriation legislation on or before March 23, 2018.

03/05/2018: Alert - SAVE Goes
"Paperless" Effective 05/01/2018

SAVE announces that SAVE is two months away
from paper processing. As of May 1, 2018, SAVE will no longer
process mailed paper submissions of the form G-845, Documentation
Verification Request, or the paper G-845, 3rd Step Document Verification
Request. All verification requests must be submitted electronically
starting May 1st. Any paper G-845 forms received after that date
will be returned without a response.

03/02/2018: OPM Announced All the Federal Offices in Washington
D.C. Areas Closed Today for Wind Storm

Government Executive reports that the storm moving up the East Coast was
expected to bring sustained winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour
with gusts as high as 70 miles per hour on Friday, potentially
knocking down trees and causing widespread power outages. The
National Weather Service warned that travel could be hazardous.
Further up the coast, the storm was expected to produce flooding
and blizzard-like conditions.

State Department updated "General, Birth, Death, Marriage, Divorce,
Adoption, ID Card, Court/Prison, Police, Military, Travel, Post
Contact, and Visa Services" document
requirements for many and many countries since beginning this
year. Those are applying for the immigrant visas should check
with the State Department's Visa Reciprocity sites urgently to
comply with the changed reciprocities!

03/02/2018: TRS Designation
Extension for Syria Until 09/30/2019

DHS announces that the Secretary of Homeland
Security is extending the designation of Syria for Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from April 1, 2018, through
September 30, 2019. The 60-day re-registration period will start
to run from Monday, 03/05/2018. This notice will be officially
published in the federal register Monday 03/05/2018, but stakeholders
may read the advance copy now and start taking care of
registration process pursuant to the notice.

OFLC alerts that iCERT site
may be down from 5:30 p.m. (EST) today, Friday until 03/05/2018
Monday morning for maintenance. Those who need H-1B LCA, especially
for the FY 2019 H-1B cap LCAs, should process them urgently during
the day today quickly.

It appears the USCIS prepared an initial
draft of its proposed rule with a schedule to publishing in February
2018 as published in the rule making agenda. However, USCIS learned
that it needed to make a "significat economic analysis"
which will take some time. Therefore, the USCIS has changed the
schedule of publication of the "proposed rule" from
February to June 30, 2018. The proposed rule may be published
in the federal register with probably upto 90 days of comment
period. It thus appears that the binding rule may not be published
until next six months or so from now. Please stay tuned.

The number of supervised recruitment is not
that large, but hopefully this webiner can give some guidance
for these unfortunate PERM stakeholders.

03/01/2018: American Immigration Council Won in Litigation
for EB-1C I-140 Petition for its Employee in a Foreign Country
for Nine (9) Years W/O Subsidicary or Affiliate in the Foreign
Country

This is not a precent and binding decision,
but in this case, AIC reports that AIC and entity brought a
lawsuit for denying EB-1C immigrant petition for the reason that
the company did not have either affiliate or subsidicary in the
country where the company's worker worked for nine years for
the company overseas. Interestingly, AIC reports that the USCIS
has backed down and approved the I-140 petition. For the details,
please read the litigation copy. It is uncertain whether this
record will help other employers to file and win for EB-1C in
similar context, but very interesting case.

USCIS announces today that during the first five
business days, USCIS received approximately 2,700 H-2B cap-subject
petitions requesting approximately 47,000 workers, which is more
than the number of H-2B visas available. As a result, USCIS,
in accordance with applicable regulations, conducted a lottery
on Feb. 28 to randomly select enough petitions to meet the cap.
Accordingly, USCIS will reject and return the petitions and associated
filing fees to petitioners that were not selected, as well as
any cap-subject petitions received after Feb. 27.

Inventory data is an important source to
predict future movement of employment-based immigrant visa cut-off
dates for various countries. India has recorded the most clogged
individual country that has witnessed in the waiting numbers
for pending EB-485 applications until now.

India waiting
numbers are as follows:

EB-1: 14,290 at the end of 2017

EB-2: 18,448 at the end of 2017

EB-2 total of 7,557 for entire waiting number
of 2008, including 1,323 for December 2008 alone

EB-2 total of 8,797 for entire waiting number
of 2009, including 1,109 for January, 639 for February,
650 for March, 650 for April, 1,451 for May, and 1,421 for June.

The bill was first read yesterday and could
not get the support and had second read today for debate with
no avail. There was no other immigration bill on the floor thus
far.

02/28/2018: SAVE System Modernization
is Coming This Week, as Early as Tomorrow, March 1, 2018

The enhancements to the SAVE System will
be available as soon as March 1st. The new features and look
will make the SAVE system more user-friendly. The updates have
only been made to the "Additional" Verification process
at this time, and the "Initial" Verification process
will be updated later this year. Please stay tuned.

Modernized SAVE System will enhance verification
services, making it easier for you to determine the eligibility
of your benefit applicants.

02/28/2018: Time for Collaboration Between Consulting Service
Providers and Their Clients under the Changing H-1B and L-1 Visa
Environment as Part of Trump Administration's Action of Buy American,
Hire American Executive Order

The Trump Administration has initiated two
restrictive policies to implement this Executive Order as follows:

Policy Memorandum of October
23, 2017 on "Rescission of Guidance
Regarding Deference to Prior Determinations of Eligibility in
the Adjudication of Petitions for Extension of Nonimmigrant Status,"
that repealed traditional policy of "deference" of
past decision of the agency in adjudicating H-1B extension petitions.
Ever since this new policy was implemented, the H-1B employers
and H-1B foreign workers have encountered mountain of RFEs and
a lot of denial of extension of H-1B status for the H-1B foreign
workers.

Policy Memorandum of February
22, 2018 on "Contracts and Itineraries
Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites,"
that mandates collaboration of the entities that need the technical
services by consulting businesses and their foreign workers to
provide evidence for their detailed needs for the existence and
need for such "specialty" services, without which the
adjudicators of H-1B petitions would be able to deny H-1B petitions.

The attacks against the H-1B program will
not end there. Sooner or later this year, the Trump Administration
will implement a reform of H-1B cap selection criteria from current
random selection lottery method to highest wage offer selection
method, that will affect small and medium size employers devastatingly.
Employers, BEWARE!!!

02/28/2018: February 2018 Comes and Gone Without Planned
H-4 Repeal Rule Making Action by the USCIS

Certain H-4 spouses have been going through
a difficult time emotionally for the past several months even
since the Trump Administration released its plan to repeal certain
H-4 EAD programs. Today is the last day of February and there
is no rule-making agenda released for H-4 repeal program. Accordingly,
H-4 EAD community is experiencing a small amount of space to
feel a breathe of temporary relief due to the two developments:
One was the decision of the appeals federal court in D.C. that
rejected the anti-H-1B labor union's demand for the federal court
to rule on the case and has rather given a space of time for
the Trump Administration to act on the H-1B EAD program for the
several months from now. Another news is inaction for the USCIS
today to initiate the rule-making process to repeal the H-4 EAD
program unlike it planned earlier.

However, this is a temporary and tiny small
relief for the H-4 EAD community. They should not rest on this
development and not take any action to deal with potential relief
of H-4 EAD program down the road. They should keep carrying out
their plan to deal with their future against the repeal of H-4
EAD program in the future.

OFLC will host a Supervised Recruitment webinar
on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The objective for this webinar is
to provide general technical assistance that will provide stakeholders
with helpful tips when submitting a PERM Supervised Recruitment
response to the Atlanta National Processing Center.

To join and hear the audio, please dial the
toll-free number 888-282-0371 and enter access code: 6854311
to hear the audio portion of the webinar or use the audio function
of the WebEx software to stream audio.

SEVP reminds that if a principal designated
school official does not complete the process by March 2, every
school official at every campus associated with their SEVP-certified
school will be locked out of SEVIS on March 3 and will remain
so until the verification process is complete. Read on.

For two reasons: First, EOIR was managing
the largest caseload the immigration court system had ever seen.
Second, the Department was in the process of hiring a substantial
number of additional immigration judges, which the Department
expected would increase the number of appeals filed with the
Board.

02/26/2018: Senate Returned to the Session Showing No Rush
for Any Immigration Reform Legislation

The U.S. Senate returned to the session today
and gone without any calendar for immigration reform legislative
bills. It appears that at this point, there is no known schedule
for the Senate to go into any debates, not to mention any votes,
for the immigration bills. It is not certain whether both parties
are taking a cautious approach not to take any blame for DACA
legislation matter under the circumstances when DACA emergency
is for the time being pushed away from the table, in part thanks
to decisions on DACA issues by the federal district courts and
the Supreme Court of the United States. March 5 is no longer
considered a point of no return for the DACA community at least
for now. Under the circumstances, Democrats find no motive to
push for DACA legislation, taking away the power of bargaining
chips for the Republicans to push ahead ultra-conservative comprehensive
immigration reform legislation. They sort of lost the power of
bargaing chip, more or less, and at least for now.

02/26/2018: The Supreme Court of United States Refused Trump's
Request to Review Lower's Courts Preliminary Injunctions Against
Trump's March 5, 2018 Rescission of DREAMER Program!

As we reported earlier, Federal District
Court in San Francisco ruled in January 2018 that the administration
had abused its discretion and had acted arbitrarily and capriciously
in rescinding the program. Another Federal District Court in
Brooklyn, New York also issued a similar ruling this month. Trump
Administration then, bypassing the U.S. Courts of Appeals for
these federal district courts rulings, went upto the Supreme
Court of United States to review and and turn down the lower
courts decisions.

New York Times reports that this morning, the SCOTUS (Supreme Court
of the United States) rejected and turned down the Trump Administration's
requrest. It means that when it comes to renewal of DACAs, the
program will remain in place, allowing much of the program to
survive beyond the March 5 deadline, pursutant to the two federal
district courts decisions. What a blow to the March 5, 2018 deadline
of the Trump Administration's decision of rescission of the DACA
program!

Politically, this decision shift the buden
on DACAs from the Democrats to the Republicans since there will
be no longer deadline of March 5, 2018 for existing DACAs and
there is no legal hurdle for the President Trump to extend or
renew DACA program beyond March 5, 2018, failure of which can
be taken as the President's action against the Dreamers. Sad
part of this DACA political struggle is that the DACAs more or
less have lost a momentum to use this struggle to achieve their
goal of legalization and eventual citizenship quickly using the
legislative tool of Continuing Resolutions.

02/23/2018: USCIS New Policy Memorandum of 02/22/2018 on Mandatory
Requirement of Contracts and Itineraries
for H-1B Petitions Involving 3rd
Party Worksites

The requirement is mandatory effective 02/22/2018
and any pending third-party worksite H-1B pendings are likely
bound by this new policy. Consulting firms should review this
memorandum and comply with this new mandotory policy. Memorandum
clarifies that this memorandum is issued to comply with Presidential
Executive Order of Buy American, Hire American. Remember that
this memoradum claries that the USCIS can approve the H-1B petition
for less than three years based on the adjudicator's judgment.
Beware.

02/22/2018: U.S. Court of Appeals in DC Issued an Order
Sustaining Trump Administration Motion for Abeyance of H-4
EAD Rescission Process Instead of Court Ruling in Pending
Lawsuit

The Wise Grad reports that the federal appeals
court issued a decision granting the motion for abeyance pending
H-4 EAD rescission rule making and order the Trump Administration
to report the court every 90 days progress of the rule making.
The Court thus denied the union's motion to reschedule the hearing
to decide the case as soon as possible. Accordingly, for now,
the decision has given a good news, albeit temporary, for H-4
EAD stakeholders for a substantial prolonged period time.

What does this mean to immigration stakeholders?
H-4 spouses have extended period of time to apply for new H-4
EADs and extension of current H-4 EAD for a while without fear
of court's imminent decision against the H-4 EAD rule. Additionally,
this may somewhat unload potential FY 2019 H-1B cap petition
volume in that the number of H-4 EADs may keep staying in H-4
EAD instead of rushing to file change of status from H-4 to H-1B
in April 1, 2018. We previously predicted that the volume of
H-1B cap applications in this cap season may arise substantially
because of H-4 EADs applying for change of status to H-1B in
part as well as Trump Administration's plan to reform the H-1B
cap seletion based in the order of the highest salary offered
instead of random selection in the near future. Another factor
is the growing economy and business markets.

USCIS official will join the teleconference
to discuss EAD processing times, shed light on current operational
issues, and highlight best practices. It will be one-hour teleconference
from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (EST). Interested people should click
the link above to register.

Form I-817, Application for Family Unity Benefits, New Edition
Dated 11/07/2017. Effective 04/23/2018, USCIS will only accept
the 11/07/2017 edition. Until then, you can use the 12/23/2016
edition.

Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application
or Petition, New Edition Dated 11/01/2017. Effective 04/23/2018,
USCIS will only accept the 11/01/2017 edition. Until then, you
can use the 12/23/16 edition.

02/16/2018: Effective 03/17/2018, USCIS No Long Accept Power
of Attorney (POA) Signature on Forms and Other Documents

USCIS has released a Final Policy Memorandum
on 02/15/2018 that USCIS will no longer accept applications,
petitions, and others which are signed by Powever of Attorney
efective March 17, 2018. Until now, this has been permitted by
an interim policy memorandom. This interim policy memorandum
is overridden by the just released Final Policy Memorandum of
02/15/2018. For the details, please read the full text of the
Policy Memorandum.

02/16/2018: Senate in Recess Until 02/26/2018

Senate confirmed en masse nominations for
government posts and judges and went into a recess without any
indication as to any agenda or plan for immigration issues before
March 5, 2018 when President Trump's DACA rescission order takes
effect. As we reported earlier, though, because of the federal
district court injunction orders against the President's rescission
order or unless higher courts overrule the lower courts decisions,
the current DACAs will be able to continue their lives without
the fear of deportation. Sad parts include that no new DACA applications
will be available and those who failed to file extension before
September 24 last year will face crisis, even though DHS may
exercise discretion to delay the enforcement actions against
them aggressively. Additionally, since advance paroles will not
be available for the current DACAs, their lives will be affected
negatively for not being able to visit their home countries and
relatives overseas. We'll see what will happen after 02/26/2018.

It is hopeful that there is some development
very soon. Available options include (1) the Congress passes
legislation when they come back to the sessions, albeit not too
promissing in the near future; (2) the President issues a new
executive order to revive the DACA program with or without revisions.
Under the Constitution of the United States, the President has
a power of prosecutorial discretion on equity in the form of
deferred action ; (3) the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme
Court of United States take time to review and reach decisions
on the government's appeal against the lower courts preliminary
injunctions until the political issues are resolved either legislatively
or administratively during the next several months.

This PM pertains to certain H-2B petitions
requesting start dates on or after April 11, 2018, and before
October 1, 2023, for an otherwise qualified H-2B worker to perform
service or labor on Guam pursuant to any agreement entered into
by a prime contractor or subcontractor calling for services or
labor required for performance of a contract or subcontract for
construction, repairs, renovations, or facility services that
is directly connected to, or directly associated with, the military
realignment occurring on Guam. Under the NDAA (National Defense
Authorization Act), an employers need for these specific
types of service or labor is not required to be temporary in
nature if the employment start date is on or beforeSeptember
30, 2023.

02/15/2018: Senate Failed to Pass Any Immigration Bills

There were four bills introduced in the forms
of amendment, including pro-Trump four-plans bill as well as
pro-Democrat proposal excluding elimination of DV lottery and
chain migration from immigration system. They all failed to get
60 votes by 5:00 p.m. today. Trump plan supporting SSA (Secure
and Succeed Act) bill of Sen. Grassley got only 39 yes votes.
Wow!

Quo Vadis, Senators? Senate will have no
"voting session" until 02/26/2018, Monday!

02/15/2018: USCIS Updates 02/15/2018
H-1B Processing Times as of 12/31/2017

02/15/2018: USCIS Announcement to Comply with Injunctions of
Federal District Courts Against Trump's DACA Rescission

USCIS announced yesterday that the scope
of the preliminary injunction issued on February 13, 2018 in
the Eastern District of New York is the same as the preliminary
injunction issued on January 9, 2018 in the Northern District
of California. Until further notice, and unless otherwise provided
in this web guidance, the DACA policy will continue to be operated
on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017.
As explained in that guidance, USCIS is not accepting requests
from individuals who have never before been granted deferred
action under DACA.

Both court injunctions apply only to the
curent DACAs, excluding any new DACA applicants. Review the current USCIS DACA implementation.
What does it mean? When it comes to the current and existing
DACAs, there will be no rescission of DACA program on March 5,
2018 "unless higher federal courts overrule these district
courts' injunction orders!

Basically confrontation between two proposals:
Republican (Grassley) proposal incorporatiing Trump's all four
plans (Border Security, DACA, Removal of so-called Chain Migration,
and Removal of DV Lottery Program) vs. Democratic proposal limiting
to the first two programs (Border Security and DACA). Trump has
declared he would veto the Senate Democratic proposal.

Update to Form G-1450, Authorization for
Credit Card Transactions 02/14/2018 12:00 AM EST. New edition
and separate instructions are dated 01/04/18. As we reported
earlier, USCIS is expanding credit card payment of filing fees
for 41 forms using this G-1450 form.

Caution. The credit card payment is available
only when they are filed with Lockbox facilities!

02/14/2018: USCIS to Accept Credit
Card Payment for Fees for 41 Forms Which Are Filed with
Lockboxes

USCIS announced today that it will now accept
credit card payments for the 41 fee-based forms processed at USCIS Lockbox
facilities. To pay by Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover,
applicants will need to use Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit
Card Transaction (PDF, 260 KB)s. For details, please click here.

This bill is close to the Trump's immigration
reform plan. DHS posted summry of this bill. Better summary is posted by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. This bill is sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Chuck Grassley.

New York Law Journal reports that today, the federal judge issued preliminary
injunction that applies nation-wide against DHS Secretary rescission
of DACA program.

This is a very important decision when the
Senate debate for DACA stalled between the Republicans and the
Democrats not too long after the floor debate and DACA could
have faced a nightmare in the first week of March.

The debate will start today and reportedly,
the President Trump demands to pass the immigration reform legislation
including DACA by Thursday, 02/15/2018. It may be considered
a wild dream, but the pressure is mounting on the Congress to
pass immigration legislation before March 5, 2018 when the DACA
program expires.

Very depressing charts for EB Indian workers
in both Final Action Date Chart and Filing Date Chart.

02/12/2018: Are You Ready for the Senate Floor Debates and
Actions on Immigration Legislation This Week?

Yes, this week can be one of the most important
periods for the future of immigration reform for this country
as the Senate launches full-blown debates on comprehensive immigration
reform legislation and DACA legislation, among others. Republicans
hope to push the Trump's immigration reform plans as a bargain
for DACA relief, while Democrats to push DACA legislation upfront
with or without a potential compromise for comprehensive immigration
reform along the line of the Democrats political platform. The
debate will start shortly today. Please stay tuned.

02/09/2018: President Signed the CR as Soon as the House Passed
Bill Early This Morning, Officially Reopening the Government

White House site just confirmed this, but
his Twitter as reported in Breitbart indicates that he signed 05:39
a.m. this morning. Apparently, he loved the bill.

02/09/2018: House also Passed CR at About 5:30 This Morning
and Government to Reopen After About Six Hours of Shutdown This
Morning

This probably is one of the shortest government
shutdown. What a relief.

Now wait for a potential huge legislative
development on immigration reform starting from next Monday!
It will be a huge relief for temporary and permanent labor certification
programs for employment-based immigration stakeholders as well
as another stakeholders for FY 2017 sunset immigration programs
which will reopen again at least for now. The USCIS posted alert for these four programs, but just passed
CR will save these sunsetting four immigrations at least until
03/23/2018.

The CR does not touch any hot-botton immigration
issues such as DACA as well as comprehensive immigration reform.
However, the legislative debate on the immigraion legislation
is expected to ignite a fire on the Senate floor beginning from
next Monday. Please stay tuned.

02/09/2018: Senate Eventually Passed CR by 71-28 Votes During
the Night

The government temporarily still remains
shutdown, but some progresses have been made in the Congress.
After a reported concession in the CR, the Senate eventually
passed the bill. The House is scheduled to vote for the Senate
passed CR about 4:00 AM this morning.

Report indicates that the Senate has agreed
to open a huge debate on the Senate floor on immigration reform
legislation next week without any delays.

One time, in the Senate, there was a bi-partisan
agreement to fund federal government, but when the Senate went
into the session, Senator Rand Paul of KY started filibuster
on the floor all the way through 11:00 PM and, report indicates that the Senate went into
recess until 12:01. Accordingly, at midnight of 12:00 P.M. (EST),
the federal government legally shuts down. When the Senate comes
back to the session after 12:00 P.M., the Senate Majority Leader
will try to vote for the bi-partisan agreement to reopen the
federal government, but passage of the bill in the Senate would
not easily allow reopen of the federal government since the House
should also vote and the President Trump should sign it into
a law. On the House side, there is another hurdle to pass the
Senate bill since there are two groups of House members who oppose
this bill, including the House Democratic Minority Leader and
her supporters on the one side and ultra right-wing conservative
Republican Freedom Caucus on the other side who also oppose the
bill thus far.

02/07/2018: Alert! USCIS Considers
Random Selection for H-2B Cap Numbers
on 09/30/2018 (Last Day of the Second Half of FY 2018

USCIS announces today that the U.S. Department
of Labor announced it will not begin releasing H-2B temporary
labor certifications until Feb. 20, 2018, due to an unprecedented
number of applications. As a result of this demand, USCIS may
receive more H-2B nonimmigrant worker petitions than there are
H-2B visas available in the second half (04/01/2018-09/30/2018)
of Fiscal Year 2018. USCIS is maintaining a flexible approach
to this issue, which may
include randomly selecting petitions
received on the final receipt date to ensure that we allocate
H-2B visas fairly and do not exceed the cap. More information
will be forthcoming. For more information, see Cap Count for H-2B Nonimmigrants.

Government shutdown cannot be taken lightly.
Some people may take that it will only affect government employees
and their families. That is absolutely not true. It can affect
hundreds of thousnds or even more than millions of people, immigration
stakeholders, disrupting their lives because of the close of
the federal government offices.

02/07/2018: Immigration Issues Out of CR Compromise to Avoid
Government Shutdown at Least Until 03/23/2018

Yesterday, the House passed a temporary government
funding bill (CR) to keep the government temporarily opened through
03/23/2018 without including any immigration reform or DACA provisions
in it. The Senate is likely to revise the House version, but
in order to avoid the government shutdown, the Senate may as
well take out immigration reform from the CR, to leave them as
next compromise agenda during the next CR period. President Trump
threatened that he wanted to see the government shutdown, should
his conservative immigration reform be not part of the CR or
Omnibus Appropriations bill, but he would not dare to do that
since he would be the prime target of blame and attack by the
nation for the government shutdown. For the reaons, this time
around, Democrats also remained silent on attachment of DACA
to the CR for the same reasons. It thus appears that the struggle
for immigration reform legislation including DACA will for now
be controlled and move to the struggle during the upcoming CR
period through March 23, 2018. During the next CR period, the
President Trump is likely to take over a heavy burden on DACA
issue, either from legislative perspectives or administrative
action perspectives.

For the sunsetting immigration programs,
next CR may give a temporary relief, at least through March 23,
2018. Please stay tuned.

It appears as of now, clean cases moved from
August 2017 to September 2017.

02/06/2018: Effective 02/01/2018, State Department &
USCIS Started Screening Family Members of
Refugee Applicants in the U.S.

On Feb. 1, 2018, USCIS and the Department
of State implemented new procedures to ensure that all individuals
admitted as refugees receive similar, thorough vetting 
whether they are principal refugees, accompanying family members,
or following-to-join refugees. A following-to-join refugee is
the spouse or child of a principal refugee who lives abroad and
wishes to join the principal refugee in the United States. For
the details, please see the USCIS announcement.

02/06/2018: Breitbart Reports There is No March 5 Deadline
for DACA

Very interesting report. According to the
conservatie media Breitbart report yesterday, "March 5
distinction was vaporized January 9 when a California judge decided
that the government had violated regulatory procedures by quickly
ending the delivery of benefits to the 680,000 illegals still
in the DACA program. In response, the federal government has
begun renewing the expiring work-permits, pending their appeal
to the Supreme Court, which is likely to be decided by June."
In fact, there is no ruling by the Supreme Court of the United
States against the DACA program itself other than preliminary
injunction of the federal district court in Texas against the
"expanded DACA (three-year programe instead of two-year
program) and DAPA program for their parents." Besides, the
Trump Administration issued the decision of rescission of the
original two-year DACA program based on the threat of the Attorney
General of the State of Texas to seek expansion of the three-year
expanded DACA program preliminary injunction to the original
two-year DACA prograam in the Court. In issuing the rescission,
the Trump Administration exercised discretion to extend the deadline
for exising DACA program until March 5, 2018 for the existing
DACA recipients. Under the circumstances, theoretically, the
Trump Administration still has an authority to extend DACA program
as a "prosecutorial deferred action" power of the Executive
Branch under the Constitution of the United States as a part
of common law rule of equity. Accordingly, it is somewhat interesting
how this report of Breibart will affect the dynamics for the
pending FY 2018 budget negotiations between the two parties.

02/05/2018: Do not Miss Teleconference on FY 2019 H-1B Cap
Season and Filing Tips

Unconfirmed sources indicate that the USCIS
planned reform of H-1B cap will not take place before the opening
of this cap season on 04/01/2018. Another information indicates
that unlike last year, the Premium Processing may not remain
closed for H-1B cap cases almost throughout the season, albeit
a short period of closing as usual for many years in the past.

The teleconference may add some more details
about the cap filing this season, and H-1B cap employers and
stakeholders may not miss this teleconference. For details, refer
back to our report on 01/31/2018 in this site.

Report indicates that Republicans and Democrats
are moving toward direction of passing another Continuing Resolution
to fund the government until March 22, 2018 with the agreements
on increased spending bill for defense and to work on "neutral"
immigration legislation during the period of next CR. Reportedly,
the road block to this movement is the Freedom Caucus of the
House (Ultra Right Wing) that threatens to reject such CR if
the ultra conservative immigration reform legislation is not
passed as part of the another CR. Should that happen, there will
be another government shut down on 02/09/2018 (Friday). The CR
must be passed before Thursday because the House members are
scheduled to leave the Hill for the caucus meeting. The key appears
to remain in the hand of the members of House Freedom Caucus.
If they want to avoid the blame for another government shutdown,
President Trump and Freedom Caucus may have to agree to the ongoing
concessions between the House and the Senate leaderships.

If there is no government shut down, some
immigration programs that are scheduled to sunset can be extended
again until 03/22/2018. Please stay tuned.

02/02/2018: Expired and Renewal of USCIS Form of Letter-Notification
of Medical Service Requirements for National Interest Waiver Physicians

This form letter of the USCIS requesting
evidence to complete NIW waiver I-485 applications for physicans
expired on 01/31/2018, yesterday, but the OMB cleared extension
of the form letter without changes to the requirements in the
form letter. Accordingly, the IMGs who filed or who intends file
NIW I-140 and I-485 applications based on the HHS or Veteran
Administration sponsorship may use the expired form, which will
soon be published in the federal register for extension of the
form letter.

02/01/2018: Reportedly, President Trump Suggested Today
to the Republican Lawmakers to Delay in Pushing for Immigration
Reform Debate Now

Breitbart reports
that in today's Republican meeting in Virginia, President Trump
suggested to delay immigration debate rather than push it now.
President Trump must have arrived at a conclution that pushing
the far-right comprehensive immigration reform legislation now
is not for the interest of the Republican party to win the November
2018 midterm national election. Delay until later before the
election would rather help for the party in the November election,
the President thought. Why?

As we wrote earlier, pushing far-right immigration
reform would not be in the best interest since it may cause another
government shut-down, and unlike previous government shut-down,
the President Trump could be blamed for government shut-down
for pushing the far right immigration reform as the cause for
the government shutdown. Let see what happens next week.

Attorneys filing I-907 form must have been
confused with Part I of the form requesting the information about
the "Requestor" including name and address. Requestor
means what? Employer or Attorney? Obviously, the USCIS has been
receiving I-907 with confusing answers. USCIS is revising Part
1 of the Form I-907 with some enhancements. For instance, the
revised form may explain more clearly that "company name
and contact" refers only to the company or organization
named in a related case; e.g., a petitioning employer and not
legal representative. Lawyers should complete the "Preparer"
section in the form. The form Another enhancement is the addition
of a Part 5 Name, Contact Information, Declaration, and Signature
of the Person Preparing this Request, If Other Than the Requestor
which requests all relevant information regarding an attorney
or other accredited representative who prepares a Form I-907
on behalf of the person filing the request. USCIS is confident
these changes will improve the efficiency in filing and processing
Form I-907.

USCIS submitted the revised I-907 form to
the OMB yesterday, and it is likely that the revised form may
be published before the start of the FY 2019 H-1B cap season.
One good news is that the USCIS rejected a comentor's suggestion
to increase the fee to $5,000! Good for you, USCIS!

Starting January 29, 2018, the Asylum Division
have been giving priority to the most recently filed affirmative
asylum applications when scheduling asylum interviews. USCIS
indicates that the INS in old days first established this interview
scheduling approach as part of asylum reforms implemented in
January 1995. This approach was in place until December 2014.
The aim is to deter individuals from using asylum backlogs solely
to obtain employment authorization by filing frivolous, fraudulent
or otherwise non-meritorious asylum applications.

Giving priority to recent filings allows
USCIS to promptly place such individuals into removal proceedings,
which reduces the incentive to file for asylum solely to obtain
employment authorization. This approach also allows USCIS to
decide qualified applications in a more efficient manner. USCIS
will now schedule asylum interviews in the following order of
priority:
(1) First priority: Applications that were scheduled for
an interview, but the interview had to be rescheduled at the
applicants request or the needs of USCIS.
(2) Second priority: Applications that have been pending
21 days or less.
(3) Third priority: All other pending affirmative asylum
applications will be scheduled for interviews starting with newer
filings and working back towards older filings.

It appears that the country generally agrees
that the country's aged-old immigration systems should be reformed,
considering the change of the world and the country in a cyber
age demanding merit-based immigrants. In fact, the Senate passed
a few years ago a comprehensive immigration reform Act, S. 744,
incorporating this concept of merit-based immigration reform.
Unfortunately, the House rejected and did not even put the Senate
bill on the floor, leading to the death of the bill.

Politico
reports that after the President's SOTU address, it was a general
consensus that there was no objection to the immigration reform
based on merit system, but legislators, including Republicans,
revealed that the President reform proposal which reflect's Senator
Tom Cotton's RAISE Act would not be acceptable, not because of
the merit-based immigration reform but because of Sen. Tom Cotton's
bill to use merit-based reform to cut off annual total immigration
to about 40% during the first year after the legislation being
enacted. Democrats themselves also generally admit that the country's
immigration laws should be reformed with introduction of merit-based
immigration as an important part of the new immigration system,
but object to reducing total immigration numbers to about a half
of current immigration system.

It thus appears that unless this difference
can be compromised between the Republicans and the Democrats,
DACA relief is likely to face a jeopardy and the country may
face another government shut-down. The workable compromise would
keep the family-based immigration system as it is, albeit in
reduced numbers, and reform employment-based immigration system
drastically, removing per country limit and allocating more numbers
for employment-based immigration. It is stunning and embarrassing
to learn that the white supremacist David Duke praised the President's immigration
reform plan in the SOTU, obviously not because of merit-based
reform per se, but
because of the drastic cut-off of
total immigrant numbers, especially immigrants of color, as the
ultimate goal of the immigration reform.

USCIS has published today a notice in the
federal register seeking comment for its revision I-129S form
with a 60-day comment period. The revised form will require details
of the proposed job and employee's detailed biographic and work
history and other details.

This bill has been introduced
by Senator Hatch of Utah for a number of years with minor changes
to help this country to recruit talented high tech foreign workers.
This bill was introduced again on 01/25/2018 in the Senate. One
big change is a proposal to eliminate per country limit for employment-based
immigration annual limit. If this bill is passed, another pending
bill which was introduced over the years by another Congressman
in the House from Utah will turn mute. Indian high tech workers
have been advocating this House bill for many years without success.

H1B Visas:
-U.S. advanced degrees: Uncaps the existing exemption (currently
20,000) for holders of U.S. masters degrees or higher from
the annual numerical limitation on H1B visas for individuals
who are being sponsored for or who will be sponsored for a green
card.
-Statutory cap: Increases the annual base allocation of H1B
visas from 65,000 to 85,000.
-Market escalator: Creates a market-based escalator to allow
the supply of H1B visas to meet demand. Under the escalator,
up to 110,000 additional H1B visas (for a total of 195,000)
may be granted in a fiscal year if certain demand requirements
are met.
-Lottery prioritization: Prioritizes adjudication of cap-subject
H1B visa petitions for holders of U.S. masters degrees
or higher, holders of foreign Ph.D.s, and holders of U.S.
STEM bachelor degrees.
-Hoarding penalties: Subjects employers who fail to employ an
H1B worker for more than 3 months during the individuals
first year of work authorization to a penalty.
-Prohibitions on replacement: Prohibits employers from hiring
an H1B visa holder with the purpose and intent to replace
a U.S. worker.
-Work authorization for H1B spouses and children: Provides
work authorization for spouses and dependent children of H1B
visa holders.
-Worker mobility: Increases H1B worker mobility by establishing
a grace period during which H1B visa holders can change
jobs without losing legal status.
-Dependent employers: Updates 1998 law exempting H1B dependent
employers from certain recruitment and nondisplacement requirements.
Raises from $60,000 to $100,000 the H1B salary level at
which the salary-based exemption takes effect. Narrows education-based
exemption to H1B hires with a U.S. Ph.D. Eliminates exemptions
for super-dependent employers altogether.

Green Cards:
Per-country numerical limits: Eliminates annual per-country limit
for employment-based green cards and adjusts per-country caps
for family-based green cards.
Green card recapture: Enables the recapture of green card numbers
that were approved by Congress in previous years but not used.
Exemptions from green card cap: Exempts spouses and children
of employment-based green card holders, holders of U.S. STEM
masters degrees or higher, and certain individuals with
extraordinary ability in the arts and sciences from worldwide
numerical caps on employment-based green cards.
Worker mobility: Increases worker mobility for individuals on
the path to a green card by enabling such individuals to change
jobs earlier in the process without losing their place in the
green card line.
Employment-based conditional green cards: Creates new conditional
green card category to allow U.S. employers to sponsor university-educated
foreign professionals through a separate path from H1B.

It is interesting to learn
that it turns out that the sponsors of bills to remove per country
will leave the Congress at the end of this session of the Congress.
Senator Hatch and Senator Flake announced earlier that they would
not run for the Senate seats in the U.S. Senate in the coming
Mid-term National Election in November 2018. The House bill sponsor
decided to leave the Congress. This bill is strongly supported
and advocated by high tech industry and U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
but must overcome two hurdles: One is labor union advocate Senators,
including Republican Senator Grassley of Iowa andDemocratic
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. They are two most powerful Senators
in the Judiciary Committee in the Senate who have been strongly
opposing H and L visas and employment-based immigration legislations.
Second hurdle is the President's commitment to Executive Order
of Buy American, Hire American and a strong anti foreign worker
political platform, even though he emabrassed removal of per
country limit in his framework of on-going comprehensive immigration
reform. Currently right wing U.S. Senators and the President
are strongly advocating the comprehensive immigration reform
legislation proposals of Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman of House Judiciary Committee as a chip for bargain for
DACA relief legislation before February 8, 2018. Accordingly,
legislation removing per country limit in the employment-based
immigration and other restrictive comprehensive immigration reform
legislation must overcome a strong opposition by Democrats. Unlike
01/20/2018 government shutdown battle which the Democrats were
blamed for it using DACA undocumented immigrant relief legislation,
the upcoming potential government shutdown after 02/08/2018 may
add a heavy burden on Republicans to refute the accusation that
the same was not caused by the Republicans. For the reasons,
Senator Hatch's proposed bill may have a better chance to make
it as a stand-alone bill rather than as a part of the Trump's
comprehensive immigration reform proposals. We will see.

As we exactly predicted it, the White House
is scheduling to release this immigration reform proposal on
Monday which reflects the President's restrictive immigration
reform plan. No one should be surprised to learn this proposal.
A dark cloud in the sky with a potential government shutdown
in the next two weeks.

Effective today, previous
edition will not be accepted and new edition must be used.

01/24/2018: Potential Another Government
Shutdown on 02/08/2018 and Advisory for Employers to Take Care
of PERM & Temporary Labor Certification Applications Timely

As we predicted, after the
reopen of the government, the Trump Administration is reportedly
bringing up again border wall funding and restrictive immigration
reform as part of the renegotiation of DACA relief to extend
CR beyond 02/08/2018. Unlike the previous government shutdown
threat of 01/19/2018, the forthcoming threat from the Trump Administration
will be more forceful considering the imminent expiration of
DACA program in March. Probably this was part of the calculation
of a strategy to pass ultra conservative comprehensive immigration
reform with a goal to cut off the total "legal" immigration
to a half of the current level. Immigration stakeholders will
remember that there was another Republican similar attemp by
Simpson bill in 1980s, which failed at the time. The current
environment is more threatful for the immigration stakeholders
because of DACA as an imminent shutdown of the program in a short
period of time. The critical issue and fight are more related
to "legal" immigration than "undocumented"
immigration issues, which will bring about a long lasting political
and demographic effects for the country for years and years to
come. Immigration community should feel chill as time goes by
during the next three weeks.

01/22/2018: Both Senate and House
Passed CR as Amended to Stop Government Shutdown

The President is likely to
sign the bill swiftly and the federal government will return
to the normal business. Some immigration program operations,
including foreign labor certification programs, have suffered
for three days, but they are likely to go into a normal operation
beginning from tomorrow.

The CR will fund the federal
government until Febtuary 8, 2018, but the Congress will face
a difficult task to deal with DACA, either as a stand-alone program
or as a part of Trump's restrictive comprehensive immigration
program reducing immigration numbers to a half of the current
immigration quota. We extend congratulations to the employees
of the federal government and their families. We hope that they
do not face another challenge on February 8, 2018.

On Jan. 22, 2018, four USCIS
field offices and one service center will participate in a 10-day
pilot to issue redesigned citizenship and naturalization certificates
to U.S. citizens. The pilot sites are: Norfolk Field Office,
Tampa Field Office, Minneapolis-St. Paul Field Office, Sacramento
Field Office, Nebraska Service Center.

Although the design is new,
the process of applying for and receiving naturalization and
citizenship certificates will not change. Previously issued certificates
will remain valid as proof of citizenship or naturalization,
regardless of when they were issued. It is only necessary to
replace a certificate if it is lost or contains incorrect information.
Pending a successful pilot, USCIS will begin to issue the new
certificates nationwide at a future date.

The notice confirms that
at this time, scheduled passport and visa services in the United
States and at our posts overseas will continue during the lapse
in appropriations as the situation permits. The State Department
website will not be regularly updated until full operations resume,
with the exception of emergency safety and security information.!

With the government shutdown
in pleace, the USCIS releases today special notice on its impact
on USCIS operation during the period of government shut down.
It confirms that USCIS operations and processing of cases will
not be affected other than followings which will either expire
or suspended:

EB-5 Immigrant
Investor Regional Center Program. Regional centers are a public or private economic
unit in the United States that promote economic growth. USCIS
designates regional centers for participation in the Immigrant
Investor Program.

E-Verify. This free internet-based system allows
businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to
work in the United States.

Conrad 30 J-1 doctors. This program allows J-1 doctors
to apply for a waiver of the two-year residence requirement after
completing the J-1 exchange visitor program. The expiration only
affects the date by which the J-1 doctor must have entered the
United States; it is not a shutdown of the Conrad 30 program
entirely.

Non-minister religious workers. This special immigrant category
allows non-ministers in religious vocations and occupations to
immigrate or adjust status in the United States to perform religious
work in a full-time, compensated position.

The foregoing four immigration
programs were scheduled to be expired at the end of September
2017, but have been extended temporarily based on the Continuing
Resolutions. Since the government shutdown is in place since
the midnight yesterday, the USCIS releases this notice to alert
the stakeholders of these four programs. However, should the
Congress somehow work out Continuing Resolutions, these programs
will be reinstated.

01/20/2018: Senate to Reconvene Today
for Renegotiation and House Members on Standby in DC Areas for
its Potential Followup Session

The U.S. Senate failed to
pass Continuing Resolution last night, causing government shutdown
in the midnight. However, it decided to come back sometime this
morning to try renegotiation and to pass another short-term Continuing
Resolution. For the reasons, all the members of the House remain
in the DC area for their follow-up session, should the Senate
be successful in passing another Continuing Resolution. Please
stay tuned.

The U.S. Senate failed to pass motion for
closure to block filibuster after 10:00 p.m. of 01/19/2018 and
failed. Before the midnight, there were reports that the last
minute negotiation had been going on to save from government
shutdown literally at the last minute, but failed to produce
anything by midnight, according to Politico. It is a sad day for the country!

NPR
reports that since most government offices won't open again until
Monday, there is time over the weekend for legislators to reach
a compromise, and House members have been kept in Washington,
D.C., in case that happens. At midnight, talks among Senate leaders
were still happening on the Senate floor after a procedural vote
late Friday lacked the 60 yes votes needed to advance a four-week
funding bill that the House passed on Thursday.

The Oh Law Firm was blessed to receive two
certified LCAs by emails from the U.S. Department of Labor, for
filing of H-1B extension petitions, around 10:00 p.m. EST (two
hours before the government shutdown!) yesterday. For the impact
of government shutdown on immigration proceedings, please read
our report yesterday.

01/19/2018: The Supreme Court of United States Granted Trump Administration's Petition for
a Writ of Certiorari to Review Lower Court's Decision Partially
Lifting Presidential Travel Ban

Scotusblog
reports that the petition presented four issues before the Supreme
Court. Today's SCOTUS order is a decision to review lower court's
decision on Trump vs. Hawaii case.

01/19/2018: House Passed Continuing Resolution, but Government
Shutdown Looming Up "Real"

The House passed yesterday its version of
short-term federal government funding bill (Continuing Resolution)
up to 02/16/2018 without attaching DACA relief bill or Comprehensive
Immigration Reform bill. The underlying strategy of President
Trump and conservative Republicans appears to be to attach Trump's
restrictive Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal as reflected
in the Sen. Tom Cotton's RAISE bill in the Senate and Rep. Bob
Goodlatte's SAF Act bill in the House, making DACA relief as
part of such comprehensive immigration reform legislation. However,
both of these bills are considered a "death sentence"
for the Democrats in that family-based immigration and other
liberal immigration programs in the immigration law are the critical
base of their political platform. For the reasons, during the
last two weeks, Senate bipartisan Senators prepared a compromise
bill that accommodated the Republican bill by reducing immigration
lottery to a half of current quota, eliminating family-based
immigration petition by the permanent residents for their children.
This bi-partisan proposal was rejected by the President. Under
the circumstances, the strategy of the GOP seems to achieve avoiding
government shut-down by removing any immigration issues from
the stop-gap funding bill and then during a short period after
02/16/2018 but before sunset of DACA program in March, they intend
to add a pressure on the Democrats to accept its Comprehensive
Immigration Reform proposal which will also include the relief
for DACA.

The two parties are currently totally in
deadlock and the government shut-down becomes more real at the
end of today. Democratic leaders in the Senate hate Sen. Tom
Cotton and Rep. Bob Goodlatte who are taken road blocks against
the compromise between the Domocrats and Republicans when it
comes to DACA and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Should there be government shut-down, U.S.
Department of Labor will remain closed and during the government
shutdown, all the employment-based immigration proceedings of
the USCIS will be indirectly disturbed in that labor conditition
applications for H-1B, prevailing wage determination, and permanent
or temporary foreign labor certifications for all the employment-based
immigrant and non immigrant proceedings would be stalled and
employers and foreign workers will face crisis. Additionally,
there are some other nonimmigrant and immigrant proceedings which
are also affected in other ways. Certain EB-4 and EB-5 immigrant
visas will be closed when CR expires. Family based immigration
and other proceedings will not be affected during the government
shutdown because those are fee-based proceedings and USCIS offices
and visa posts will keep processing the applications. When it
comes to non immigrant and immigrant petitions or applications,
USCIS will keep processing them during the period, but new employment-based
non immigrant proceedings and immigrant proceedings will be handicapped
because of the closure of the U.S. Department of Labor that processes
prevailing wage determination and labor certification applications.
(Government shutdown will lead to 14.7% employees in furlough
for DHS and 83.2% employees in furlough for DOL!. See here.)
Clock keeps ticking. Please stay tuned to this website for the
development of government funding legislation in the Congress
before mid-night today.

This government stop-gap funding resolution
was officially introduced on 01/16/2018 and the House is scheduled
to act on this bill today. This bill does not include DACA relief.
Nor does it include any immigration reform legislations. As a
bargain for the Democrats, this Republican bill added Children
Health benefits extensions. For the Republican's platform, obviously
in added increased spending for military and southern border
wall and security.

DACA is scheduled to be rescinded in March
and Republican strategies are to pressure the Democrats to accept
its restrictive immigration reform legislation as a bargain for
DACA relief in the new Continuing Resolutions or Omnibus Appropriations
bill before February 16, 2018.

There are some sunsetting immigration programs
which has been temporarily extended. Pending the CR, Visa Bulletin
for February 2018 made immigrant visas unavailable for these
programs, but it clarified that should the Congress pass legislations
extending federal funding beyond 12/19/2018, the involved immigrant
visa numbers will be available pursuant to such legislation.
Accordingly, should the Congress passes the CR before the end
of tomorrow, the immigrant visa numbers for those immigration
programs will be automatically made available. Stakeholders are
advised to review February Visa Bulletin carefully.

This is a national election year and both
parties are attempting to mobilize all the legislative agenda
in favor of their contituents. The November 2018 national election
is considered one of the most important elections for the country's
history.

HHS published the Poverty Guidelines for
this year. As for the USCIS and Immigrant Visa Posts, this Poverty
Guidelines do not take effect until the USCIS publishes it as
its own Poverty Guidelines. Annually, the USCIS has been publishing
this sometime around February of early March. However, people
can figuire out it ahead of time by multiflying the HHS Poverty
Guidelines by 125% to get the USCIS Poverty Guidelines. Again
there will be no change of current Poverty Guidelines for USCIS
and immigrant visa proceedings until the USCIS publishes its
own version.

01/18/2018: USCIS Announcement of Re-Registration Period Now
Open for Salvadorans TPS

01/18/2018: USCIS Announcement of Re-Registration Period Now
Open for Haitians TPS

01/18/2018: Official Federal Register Notice of Termination
of TPS for Haiti Effective 07/22/2019
and Registration for Temporary TPS Extension and EAD

This notice is officially pupblished in the
federal register on 01/18/2018. Re-registration started from 01/18/2018 for 60 days period of time. For all other details,
please read the notice.

01/18/2018: Official Federal Register Notice of Termination
of TPS for El Salvador Effective
09/09/2019 and Registration for Temporary TPS Extension and EAD

This notice is officially published in the
federal register on 01/18/2018. Re-registration starded 01/18/2018
for 60 days. For all other details, please read the notice. Initial federal register had an error
with the state date of registration as 01/19/2018 instead of
01/18/2018. Accordingly, USCIS will publish the correct notice in the federal register Monday,
01/22/2018.

The Department of Justice announced today that it filed a notice of
appeal in The Regents of the University of California and Janet
Napolitano v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Elaine
Duke seeking review before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit. The Department also intends later this week to
take the rare step of filing a petition for a writ of certiorari
before judgment, seeking direct review in the Supreme Court of
the United States. Readers are reminded that the USCIS just started
to take in DACA "renewal" applications based on the
decision of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Depending
on the results of new development, DACA community may face a
nighmare again. They are already undergoing an extreme level
of anguish because of the deteriorating political conflict between
the President and the Democrats in the Congress potentially leading
to the federal government shutdown at the end of this Friday,
01/19/2018.

Vietnam: Will become subject to a final action
date no later than April. The China-mainland born and Vietnam
Employment Fifth preference dates would be the same.

The above final action date projections for
the Family and Employment categories indicate what is likely
to happen on a monthly basis through April and May based on current
applicant demand patterns. Readers should never assume that recent
trends in final action date movements are guaranteed for the
future, or that "corrective" action will not be required
at some point in an effort to maintain number use within the
applicable annual limits. The determination of the actual monthly
final action dates is subject to fluctuations in applicant demand
and a number of other variables. (See February Visa Bulletin)

This written testimony gives clues of DHS
new policy directions to comply with the President's order to
reform stakeholder agencies and policies, which have been submitted
to the OMB by the stakeholder agencies before October 2017. However,
no details have been released by the OMB or stakeholders agencies
as to the details of the proposals of the stakeholder agencies.
This written testimony will give a window to peek through the
direction the DHS has been and will move ahead. This testimony
covers ten (10) subjects: (1) Protectng Our Open Society in a
New Age of Terrorism; (2) Advance Terrorism Prevension
Efforts; (3) Aviation Security; (4) Vetting &
Screening; (5) Visa Waiver Program; (6) Border Security;
(7) Drugs; (8) Enforcing Immigration Laws; (9) Buy American, Hire American; and (10) Legal Immigration Reforms.Obviously,
the subjects which affect "legal" immigrant community
are presented in (9) and (10) as seen below:

(9) Buy American, Hire
American: With
the issuance of Executive Order 13788, Buy American and Hire
American, the President directed me, along with the Secretaries
of State and Labor and the Attorney General, to propose new rules
and issue new guidance, and revise existing rules and guidance
as soon as practicable, to protect the interests of United
States workers in the administration of our immigration system,
including through the prevention of fraud and abuse. I
take that directive to heart. The Department is fully committed
to eradicating fraud and abuse in our immigration system
in order to serve the interests of Americans. Such a system must
help create higher wages and employment rates for U.S. workers,
and protect their economic interests by seeking to ensure that
employment-based visas are awarded to the most-skilled beneficiaries.
DHS is working on a
combination of rulemaking, policy memoranda, and operational
changes to implement this important initiative.

Pursuant to this Executive Order, USCIS announced it will take
a more targeted approach to combatting fraud and abuse in the
employment-based visa programs, including the H-1B program. To
help end H-1B petitioner fraud and abuse, USCIS has established
a Targeted Site Visit
and Verification Program (TSVVP).
Targeted site visits allow USCIS to focus its resources where
fraud and abuse of certain programs are more likely to occur.
TSVVP initially focused on H-1B petitions filed by companies
that are H-1B dependent (as defined by statute), employers petitioning
for H-1B workers who will be placed off-site at another companys
location, or cases where USCIS cannot validate the H-1B petitioners
business information through commercially-available data.

USCIS has also taken great strides to improve transparency with
the public about employment-based immigration programs. The agency
has published new data on its website to give the public more
information regarding the use of nonimmigrant workers in the
H-1B, H-2B, and L nonimmigrant programs. Information about the
use and legal authority for employment authorization documents
has also been published.

In connection with protecting U.S. workers, the Department is
looking at ways to expand and enhance the E-Verify system.
Currently, more than 700,000 employers use the free, web-based
system to verify the work eligibility of their workforce. By
preventing employers from hiring illegal alien labor and displacing
U.S. workers, we can improve job opportunities and raise wages
for U.S. workers by making it more difficult for illegal aliens
to obtain lawful employment. We need Congress to pass legislation
to strengthen the E-verify program and, at a minimum, make it
mandatory for all employers. The Department stands ready to implement
such a directive.

Going forward, DHS will release additional data about immigration
programs that affect employment, and additional policies and
regulations will be revised in accordance with Executive Order
13788.

As my predecessors often noted, DHS enforces the laws but has
no power to make them; only Congress can do that. The President
has repeatedly made clear that our immigration system must serve
the national interest, and I ask this Committee to consider legislative
reforms to implement the Administrations immigration principles.
We need Congress to act to make our streets safer, to give our
officials the tools they need to protect American workers, and
provide relief to those who are lawfully eligible for protection
under our immigration laws. DHS remains committed to working
with Congress to achieve these important objectives.

(10) Legal Immigration
Reforms: The United
States has one of the most generous immigration systems in the
world. Every day, an average of nearly 2,000 people become U.S.
citizens. Our Nation has a long history of welcoming immigrants
who came to this country in search of freedom and opportunity.
Providing lawful permanent resident status based primarily on
meritnot solely on family connectionswould promote
assimilation, financial independence, and upward mobility for
immigrants. By establishing a points-based system for merit-based migration, the predominant system in most developed
countries, we can attract the highest-caliber immigrants, and
begin to roll back decades of policies that have suppressed wages,
contributed to income disparities, fueled unemployment, and strained
state and federal resources.

Therefore, our immigration system must be radically reformed
to meet the economic needs of our country. Most low-skilled immigration
into the United States occurs legally through our immigrant-visa
system, which, unlike many other countries systems, prioritizes
family-based chain-migration. Each year, the United States grants
lawful permanent resident status (green cards) to more than one
million people; two-thirds of that total is based on a person
having a sponsoring relative in the United States, regardless
of the new immigrants skills, education, English language
proficiency, or ability to successfully assimilate. This system
of chain-migration has accounted for more than 60 percent of
immigration into the United States over the past 35 years. We
must end chain-migration, and limit family-based green cards
to spouses and the minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful
permanent residents.

We must also eliminate
the diversity visa lottery. Every year, through this lottery, 50,000 green cards
are awarded at random to foreign nationals. Many of these lottery
beneficiaries have absolutely no ties to the United States, no
special skills, and limited education. The random lottery program
has not been adopted by other countries and does not adequately
serve our national interest.

More or less the DHS directions
sound familiar intending
to implement the President's Immigration Reform Guidance.

As we reported earlier, DHS Secretary released
announcement on 01/08/2018 that Salvador TPS program is terminated
and TPS Savadorans will be given until 09/09/2019 to depart from
the United States and they will be allowed to reregister for
the temporary extension of current TPS and EAD until 09/09/2019.
However, this has yet to be published in the federal register,
and pending the publication in federal register, USCIS has been
alerting that they should not summit registration
and payment of fees pending publication of the notice in the
federal register. USCIS then submitted the notice on 01/11/2018
to the OMB for approval for federal register publication. Voila,
in one day, on 01/12/2018, the OMB cleared the federal register
notice for publication by the DHS. Salvadoran TPS is scheduled
to be expired on 03/09/2018. Accordingly, they are less desperate
for registration than Haitians. But..................................................

It is thus anticipated that USCIS will soon
publish this notice in the federal register and TPS Salvadorans
will be able to register for renewal of the expiring TPS and
EAD in the near future. Please stay tuned to this website for
the upcoming federal register notice.

01/14/2018: USCIS Announces the Same for its Acceptance of DACA
Renewal Applications Pursuant to the Court Order

DHS announces today, 01/14/2018, that due to
a federal court order, USCIS has resumed accepting requests
to renew a grant of deferred action under DACA. Until further
notice, and unless otherwise provided in this guidance, the DACA
policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded
on Sept. 5, 2017. Individuals who were previously granted deferred
action under DACA may request renewal by filing Form I-821D (PDF),
Form I-765 (PDF), and Form I-765 Worksheet (PDF), with the appropriate
fee or approved fee exemption request, at the USCIS designated
filing location, and in accordance with the instructions to the
Form I-821D (PDF) and Form I-765 (PDF). USCIS is not accepting
requests from individuals who have never before been granted
deferred action under DACA. USCIS will not accept or approve
advance parole requests from DACA recipients.

If you previously received DACA and your
DACA expired on or after Sept. 5, 2016, you may still file your
DACA request as a renewal request. Please list the date your
prior DACA ended in the appropriate box on Part 1 of the Form
I-821D.

If you previously received DACA and your
DACA expired before Sept. 5, 2016, or your DACA was previously
terminated at any time, you cannot request DACA as a renewal
(because renewal requests typically must be submitted within
one year of the expiration date of your last period of deferred
action approved under DACA), but may nonetheless file a new
initial DACA request in accordance with the Form I-821D and Form
I-765 instructions. To assist USCIS with reviewing your DACA
request for acceptance, if you are filing a new initial DACA
request because your DACA expired before Sept. 5, 2016, or because
it was terminated at any time, please list the date your prior
DACA expired or was terminated on Part 1 of the Form I-821D,
if available.

01/13/2018: Identification of H-2A and H-2B Eligible Countries
Soon to be Published in the Federal Register

H-2A and H-2B temporary worker nonimmigrant
programs are available only when the eligible countries are designated
and published in the federal register each year. DHS submitted
the designation and sought OMB approval for the federal register
publication on 01/10/2018. In two days (01/12/2018), the OMB
cleared this notice for federal register publication. Accordingly,
H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant worker industries will soon see the
designation of list of eligible countries in the federal register
very soon. Stay tuned with this website for the update.

Haiti TPS expires on 01/22/2018, but temporary
TPS extension notice had yet to be published in the federal register.
January 22, 2018 meant TPS Haitians had only five (5) working
days, excluding Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday on Monday,
two Sundays, and two Saturdays, causing anxiety among the current
TPS Haitians since they were unable to re-register for extended
temporary TPS and EAD extensions. They have a good news. DHS
submitted to the OMB for its approval for notice of TPS Termination
and Temporary Extension of TPS Registration with extension of
EAD on 01/09/2018. Yesterday, 01/12/2018, the OMB cleared for
publication of this notice in federal register on emergency.
It is thus anticipated that this notice will be timely published
in the federal register next week to allow registration of extended
temporary TPS and likely automatic extension of EAD. Stay tuned
with this website for the update.

USCIS announces today that effective February 12,
2018, the Texas Service Center (TSC) will begin processing I-129
(L) petitions for workload balance. Vermont Service Center (VSC)
will no longer process any new L-1 petitions. Please check Direct
Filing Addresses for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant
Worker page. Starting
March 12, 2018, USCIS may reject any of these applications that
are filed at the wrong service center.

If the petitioners primary office location
is not listed in the California Service Center Filings chart,
then you must file the L-1 petitions with the TSC.

01/12/2018: Senate Bi-Partisan Immigration Reform Presented
to the President and Rejected Yesterday, 01/11/2018

Unlike the House version, which we reported
yesterday, the Senate bi-partisan proposals which were prepared
without disclosure to the public and presented to the President
yesterday who reportedly rejected it and refused to sign it,
according to Politico. The full text is not available,
but the Senate version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform was
very much toned down unlike the House version, eliminating LPR
parent's sponsorship for the adult children, cutting Diversity
Visa numbers to the half, granted DACA legal status and permission
for their parents stay in the U.S., and restoring TPS for Haiti
and Salvador, which Trump Administration terminated last week.

Well, time is running out for Government
Shut Down. As this reporter speculated yesterday, the chance
is that the government shut down could be avoided by agreeing
another short-term Continuing Resolutions to end before March,
during when the two parties may try to reach a compromise on
DACA and CIR issues. The Continuing Resolution which they may
agree during next week may include some level of border protect
agreements in it.

01/12/2018: USCIS Alert for TPS El Salvadoran
Not to Submit and Pay for Re-Registration Now

As we posted earlier, DHS Secretary announced
on 01/08/2018 that she had determined to terminate the TPS for
El Salvador, and for transition she decided to grant renewal
until 09/09/2019 for departure from the United States. USCIS
has just posted an alert that current TPS Salvadoran should
not submit and pay for re-registration for temporary extension
of TPS until the specifics are published in the federal register.

Yesterday, 01/11/2018, USCIS submitted the
El Salvador TPS Termination and Temporary Renewal notice to the
OMB for its approval and publication in the federal register.
TPS Salvadoran should watch USCIS publishing of the notice in
the near future. Please stay tuned.

This is a Republican Comprehensive Immigration
Reform Bill which is supported by the Republicans across the
board, including President, DHS Secretary, NumbersUSA, and others as a bargain for DACA
legislation. SAC Act bill includes three-year incrementary DACA
program. This bill cosponsored by House Immigration Subcommittee
Chairman Raul Labrador, House Homeland Security Chairman Michael
McCaul, and House Border Subcommittee Chairwoman Martha McSally.
It proposes to increase
EB immigrant visa annual quota (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Skilled
Worker Only) from about 120,000 a year to about 175,000 
an increase of 45%. For the details,
please read the following:

GOP is pushing this bill to pass with DACA
relief legislation, initially as a bargain for passing another
stop-gap appropriation bill that funds the federal government
beyong January 19, 2018 or alternatively as a separate bill tagging
DACA relief legislation before March 2018. There is practically
no chance that they can achieve the first option, but they will
push hard as part of the second option above.

We have already published this agenda earlier
but the official federal notice will give some more information
about each of the agencies' rule-making agenda. We would like
to point out two points: Unlike some speculation or fear in the
OPT community, there is no rule-making agenda to remove or restrict
OPT program. ICE will make a rule just to prevent fraud and improve
integrity of the OPT program. Secondly, there is no plan in the
rule-making agenda to remove or restrict AC 21 H-1B exension
beyond the six-year limit, obviously for two reasons. Firstly,
lately reported information on removal of AC 21 H-1B extension
of Trump Administration turned out to be changed that Trump Administration
is not likely to do that. Secondly, AC 21 H-1B extension is a
matter which can be changed only by legislation and not by administrative
rules, and the rule-making agenda, for the reasons, does not
touch on the matter.

Readers are advised the following pages for
the rule-making agenda of USCIS and USICE:

This Congressman from California has announced
that he will not rerun in November Midterm National Election.
Question remains on its impact on the pending H.R. 170, a H-1B
restrict legislative bill imposing requirement for offer of high
salaries for H-1B petitions. The fate of this legislative bill
may have some indirect impact on the President Trump's H-1B cap
selection reform plan, mandating selection of H-1B cap winners
based on the offered highest salary amount. "Will See!"

01/10/2018: Approaching TPS Expiration for Haitians on 01/22/2018
and DHS Announcement of Termination of Haiti TPS on 07/22/2019

Current TPS for Haitians is scheduled to
expire on January 22, 2018. On November 20,
2017, the Acting Secretary of DHS announced that she had decided
to terminate TPS program for Haiti and to allow current Haitians
in the U.S. in TPS to transition to orderly departure, DHS would
temporarily extend TPS through July 22, 2019. Since then, DHS
has yet to initiate the rule-making process for this temporary
extension registration and EAD applications. Accordingly, the USCIS site warns the TPS Haitians not to
submit registration for extended TPS until the registration process
is released.

Yesterday, DHS submitted to OMB its draft
of proposed notice for the temporary extension of TPS with the
detailed information for registration and other details. Accordingly,
it is anticipated that the notice will be officially published
in the federal register before January 22, 2018. Please stay
tuned to this website for the release of the notice in the federal
register.

Yesterday, January 10, 2018, Judge William
Alsup of the United States District Court in the Northern District
of California issued a "Preliminary Injunction" against
the Trump Administration's rescission of DACA program and order
to restore processing of DACA applications. Politico reports the full text of the Court
Order,

The USCIS London Field Office in the United
Kingdom is moving to the new U.S. Embassy facility in the Nine
Elms area of London. The last day that USCIS will provide services
at our Grosvenor Square facility will be January 10, 2018.
Anyone who has an urgent request while the field office is closed
should email USCIS.london@uscis.dhs.gov for assistance.

On January 17, 2018, USCIS will reopen
at our new location:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
U.S. Embassy
33 Nine Elms Lane
London SW11 7US
United Kingdom

We reported this report of McClatchy on 12/30/2017
which apparently has impacted a lot of stakeholder employers
and foreign workers. Unfortunately, we could not confirm the
sources of the report of the media, and for the reason, we have
decided to withdraw our report of 12/30/2017.

Another report indicates that there are about 192,700
children who were born in the United States and born of Salvadoran
parents, including TPS parents. These U.S. citizen children may
face a tragic situation of "forced" migration to El
Salvador, a foreign country, not to be separated from their parents
- a tragidy which is contrasted to the DACA children.

Effective January 22,
2018, TSA begins REAL ID enforcement
for passengers boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft.
As seen from the DHS REAL ID map posted at www.dhs.gov/real-id, there are now 26 states that
have been granted extensions. Two territories are still under
review for either an extension (CNMI and American Samoa) and
are under the grace period that ends on January 22, 2018.
DHS is doing everything it can to expedite the review of these
remaining states and territories. For states and territories
that are already compliant or noncompliant but received an extension
for 2018, their residents can use their existing state-issued
driver's licenses and identification cards, even though those
IDs might not, within themselves be REAL ID compliant.

01/08/2018: Scheduled Announcement of Termination
of El Salvador TPS Program after Current TPS Program Expires
in 2019

Politico
has just reported that the Trump administration will announce
Monday that it will end a temporary immigration status that had
allowed some Salvadorans who fled the earthquake-ravaged country
nearly two decades ago to stay in the United States, according
to two sources with knowledge of the decision. Their current
TPS for Salvador expires on September 9, 2019. That means the
legal status is being extended by 18 months, but will end by
that date. Immigrants from El Salvador are by far the largest
group to benefit from Temporary Protected Status, which allows
foreigners to remain in the United States if their home country
experiences a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary
event while they're here.

The Trump Administration has gradually focused
on H nonimmigrant visas as part of implementation of Hire American Executive
Order. However, it has also started implementing the Executive
Order in other types of employment-based nonimmigrant visas,
including the followings:

TN
visas for Canadians: For the occupation of economist classification,
it announced on 12/18/2017 that occupations
of financial analysts, marketing analysts, and market research
analysts are no longer eligible for classification as a TN economist.

L-1
visas: For qualifying relationship, USCIS announced on 01/03/2018 that the L-1 petitioner
must show the proxy votes are irrevocable from the time of filing
through the time USCIS adjudicates the petition, along with evidence
the relationship will continue during the approval period requested.
Additionally, USCIS has been expanding its site visit program
to include L-1B petitions, initially focusing on employers petitioning
for L-1B workers who will primarily work offsite at another company
or organizations location to ensure that they are complying
with the requirements from the L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004.

USCIS has just announced that it had transferred
some of the L-visa petitions from the Vermont Service Center
(VSC) and California Service Center (CSC) to the Texas Service
Center (TSC).

01/02/2018: Another Bad News for H-1B Community: Senator
Orrin Hatch Announcement to Retire at the End of this Term

Senator Orrin Hatch is not only one of the
longest servicing U.S. Senators, but also one of a few Senators
who have been supporting H-1B program. Indeed, he had introduced
a legislative bill in the past to increase the H-1B annual cap
numbers substantially. For the State of Utah, high-tech foreign
workers community had already lost one of their strongest allies
in the House and now will lose another most powerful and strongest
ally in the U.S. Senate. Mitt Romney is likely to take over the
seat in the coming Mid-term national election in November.

Record will reflect that Senator Orrin Hatch
has been a force in the U.S. Senate who had advocated H-1B program
against the strongest and powerful anti-H-1B visa program Senator
Chuck Grassley of Iowa for years and years.

01/02/2018: Confusion and Mess on Numerous Executive Orders
& Proclamation of Travel Ban and Various Federal Court Orders,
and State Department Latest Memo of 01/02/2018 for the Visa Posts
to give a Guide and deal with Confusion

Ever since the first Executive Order was
first issue on January 31, 2017 by the new President, there have
been numerous follow-up Executive Orders and Presidential Proclation
on Travel Ban, followed by the decisions of the federal courts
at all different level, from various District Courts at the bottom
to the Supreme Court at the top of the federal Judiciary. Initially,
the stakeholder agencies including Department of State and visa
posts as well as stakeholder components of the DHS and DOJ could
follow through the changing mandates handed down by the President
and federal courts at different times, but as readers must have
noticed, these agencies have no longer posted the traavel ban
updates for the international travelers, causing confusion not
only for the international travelers but also for the different
level of stakeholder agencies for the detailed information on
state of travel ban information.

After a long pause and confusion, the State
Department reportedly issued a memo today to give a
guide to the employees of the field visa posts. The DHS and DOJ
have yet to post any guides for the international travelers since
the latest court decision, probably waiting to hear the "last
say" by the SCOTUS. Alas!